Chapter 903
Chapter 903
Anton had completed his fifth Diablo II ladder character of the season, the Paladin. Before creating another one, he remembered that the ship would soon arrive at the small island of Horomuna.
Horomuna was a small island with little of interest to visitors. The ship's primary purpose for stopping there was to purchase fresh supplies from the islanders while allowing its merchants to sell part of their cargo to the local population.
The vessel would remain docked for two days, and Anton intended to spend that time with his family at Rose Manor.
He had already entrusted one of the magical communication earrings to Paul so his friend could contact him if the ship unexpectedly decided to depart ahead of schedule.
Anton had also considered leaving Paul a Portal Scroll. Unfortunately, it would have been useless.
Although Paul could use the scroll to travel to Izmorta, he would first need to register a return point in Ormunda for the scroll to function properly. Since that required physically holding the scroll while assigning the safe location, it was impossible under the current circumstances.
At the moment, only the people appointed by Ormunda to establish the portal network between Ormunda and Izmorta could freely use Anton's Town Portal Scrolls, as they had already registered their return points.
In truth, even if Anton abandoned the voyage entirely and simply returned home, reaching Izmorta later would not be difficult. Once the ship arrived and the Ormundans completed the portal network, he was confident that his wealth and connections would easily grant him access.
Still, Anton genuinely enjoyed traveling across the ocean.
Although most people considered the voyage monotonous, he appreciated having uninterrupted time to level his Diablo II ladder characters. He also had access to Earth's media, ensuring he was never bored, and he had plenty of friends his own age to spend time with discussing trivial topics.
Anton and his friends were standing on one of the ship's decks when the island finally appeared on the horizon.
For a brief moment, he was tempted to fly directly there.
He quickly dismissed the idea.
He had no desire to receive another lecture from the ship's resident wizards.
Fortunately, because of both his age and his strength—and because he rarely caused any serious trouble—they generally tolerated his occasional mischief. At worst, he usually received nothing more than a brief scolding.
"You're not going to fly over there?" Eric asked, sounding disappointed.
Anton simply smiled and shook his head.
"He can't," Paul explained to his cousin. "The ship's wizards would chew him out."
"So, are you planning to explore the island?" another friend asked.
"No," Anton replied. "I'm going back to Ormunda to spend time with my family. I'll use a Portal Scroll."
"You actually have a Portal Scroll?" one of them exclaimed in surprise.
Eric immediately rolled his eyes.
"Idiot! Don't you know Anton's family manufactures Portal Scrolls?"
Paul immediately scolded his cousin for insulting their friend, prompting Anton to laugh at their usual antics.
Once the ship docked, Anton disembarked alongside the other passengers and was relieved to stand on solid ground once more.
He told his friends he would rent a room at a nearby inn before using a Portal Scroll to return to Ormunda and promised to meet them again in two days.
After finding a suitable inn, Anton rented a room and paid extra to ensure that no one disturbed him during his stay.
Judging from the innkeeper's broad smile, the additional payment had been more than convincing.
The room included a private bathroom, making it the perfect place to establish a Town Portal.
Moments later, Anton stepped through the portal and arrived in his room at Rose Manor.
As soon as he left his room, he found nearly his entire family waiting to welcome him home.
Only Anna was absent.
"She couldn't take another leave of absence," Anders explained. "The academy complained that she'd already missed too many classes."
"Why does the academy care so much?" Anton asked. "I know plenty of noble students who regularly leave school to handle business for their families."
"They sent me a letter explaining that her schoolwork has been slipping," Anders replied. "I had to visit the academy myself and confiscate all the television shows you gave her. She needs to focus on her studies for a few months. Once the academy is satisfied with her performance again, I'll return them."
Since everyone was gathered together, the entire family overheard the conversation.
"I received a letter from Anna last week," Luna said with a laugh. "She planned to ask you for even more shows like America's Next Top Model and Project Runway, even though she hasn't finished watching the ones she already has. Too bad she couldn't come home."
Romina laughed along with her.
Like Anna, several of the women in the family had become completely captivated by Earth's fashion television shows.
They had also learned from Anders and Anna that those programs had sparked an unprecedented fashion boom throughout Ormunda.
Romina had adapted many of the ideas she saw on those shows for the family's fashion magazine, and the publication's popularity had exploded.
As the magazine became increasingly profitable, numerous competitors attempted to imitate it.
Even so, Romina maintained a considerable advantage because she alone had access to the source material.
She had even abandoned the idea of publicly releasing the fashion shows themselves.
Instead, she intended to continue exploiting that advantage until the family's publication firmly established itself as Ormunda's premier fashion magazine.
They discussed all of this while enjoying the lavish breakfast the manor's cooks had prepared to celebrate Anton's return.
Romina also requested more programs similar to Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, and Anton promised to provide them later.
Meanwhile, Alfred and Anton's two younger stepbrothers requested additional anime series, and Anton happily agreed.
After breakfast, the family moved into one of the manor's salons overlooking the still-blooming gardens, where their conversations continued.
Romina, Bruce, and Susan updated everyone on the family's various businesses.
Every venture continued to prosper.
The cinema, cosplay convention, and fashion magazine remained the family's fastest-growing enterprises.
The businesses connected to the estate's gardens, orchards, and grain fields generated steady profits as well. Their only real limitation was production capacity.
Even so, the sheer size of the estate meant that its harvests remained extraordinarily abundant.
After spending several hours catching up with everyone, Anton finally accompanied Anders and Sonya to his father's office.
By then, Anders had already explained everything Sonya needed to know regarding the Diablo II class bestowal and multiplayer access.
To Anton's surprise, Sonya had decided not to receive a Diablo II class in the real world.
Instead, she wanted only access to the multiplayer portion of the Diablo System.
According to Sonya, after learning all the details from Anders, she believed that raising a Diablo II character through multiplayer alone would provide more than enough strength and abilities for her needs.
More importantly, she could level that character from the comfort of her own home.
If she accepted a real-world Diablo II class instead, she would eventually need to venture into dangerous dungeons to gain experience.
For someone with no interest in becoming an adventurer, the multiplayer option was by far the more practical choice.